Barrel.



No. 684,605. Patented Oct. l5, |90I.

B. BURN.

BARREL.

(Application led Feb. 26, 190

1.) (N0 Model.)

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Unirse STATES irren.

BENJAMIN O. DORN, OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA.

BARREL..

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 684,605, dated October15, 1901. Application filed February 26, 1901. Serial No. 48,977. (Nomodel.)

To @ZZ whom, t Tlv/rtg; concern-,f

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN O. Donn, a citizen of the United States,residing at South Bend, in the county of St. Joseph and State ofIndiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvement-s in Barrels;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invent-ion, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in barrels, casks, boxes, orother packing and storing vessels; and its object is to provide meanswhereby the contents of the same may be inspected from any portion ofthe barrel and to also provide ventilation for the vessel.

My invention consists in providing the staves of a barrel with alongitudinally-split tongue, the free end of which is held secured inplace by the hoop, but which may be released and opened to examine thecontents by displacing the hoop.

It further consists in providing ventilation for the barrel.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation ofa barrel, showing one or more of the staves split and held in place bythe hoops ready for shipping. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the hoopdisplaced and the free end of the split staves bent outwardly. Fig. 3 isa longitudinal section taken through one or" the split staves. Fig. e isa view of a stave, showing a modication; and Fig. 5 is atransversesection of the stave.

In the drawings, l designates an ordinary barrel provided with the usualhoops 2 and 3 and having one or more of the staves split longitudinally,as at ll, forming a tongue 5, the normal tendency of which is to springoutwardly, as shown in Fig. 2, but which is held in place by the hoops.It is well known that the hoops are usually secured upon the barrel bywedging them toward the center of the same, and the staves being bentconvex and held at the top by hoops the normal tendency of the staveswhen released by the hoops would be to spring outwardly.

In Figs. l and 2 the tongue is shown made from the staves by a singlesplit, one end of which extends transversely and merges into the side ofthe stave, thereby separating it from the stave. To prevent the tonguefrom being forced within the barrel, whereby it would be difiicult towithdraw the same, the upper edge is beveled, as shown at 6 in Fig. 3,or the entire out made in the staves may be eut obliquely, so as tostill further reduce the liability of the tongue becoming dislodged orforced within the barrel. K

In Fig. 4. I have shown a modified form in which the tongue 5 is madefrom the stave by having two parallel longitudinal splits 7 and S madein the same, the two splits being connected at its free end.

It will be seen that this invention is applicable to boxes as well asbarrels, such as those used for packing fruit, and changes in the form,proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing the advantagesthereof. Assuming that the barrel is in the position shown in Fig. l andit is desired to inspect the contents from several portions of the same,the upper or lower stave, or both, maybe dislodged, as shown in Fig. 2,and the tongue 5 will immediately spring outwardly and allow inspectionof the contents; but the tongue can be replaced again by a reverseoperation. It is obvious that as many tongues may be provided asdesired, and every alternate stave may have the tongues alternatelyarrangedt. e., the free end being at the top and the bottom, as shown inFig. 1.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure byLetters Patent, is-

l. A barrel having one or more of its staves provided with an integraltongue capable of being moved outward to permit the inspection of thecontents.

2. A barrel having one or more of its staves provided with an integraltongue intermediate of the ends of the st-aves and capable of beingmoved outward to permit the inspection of the contents at the centralportion of the barrel.

3. A barrel having one or more of its staves split longitudinally aportion et' .their length, said split extending to the longitudinal edgeof the stave to form an integral tongue, and means for holding thetongue within the opene ing formed by the split.

IOO

4. A barrel having one or more of the stztves l In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature split longitudinally a portion of their length, inpresence of two Witnesses. Whereb an integral touffue is formed in theSteves, gaid tongue beingbbeveied inwardly to BENJAMIN O DORN' 5 conformtothe bevel of the stationary portion of the stave, and form a tightjoint, substantiaiiy as described.

Witnesses:

GEORGE OLTSCH, HUGO OLTsoH.

